The Institute of Space Systems in Bremen designs and analyses future spacecraft and space missions (launchers, orbital and exploration systems, and satellites), and assesses them with regard to their technical performance and cost. It applies state-of-the-art methods of multi-disciplinary engineering in system design and analysis – for example, a computerised system for concurrent design.

The menu for polar explorers in the Antarctic is not usually very exciting. Often, there are only durable goods, especially in the polar winter, when the researchers are cut off from the outside world for months. But by the end of next year, the EDEN ISS greenhouse will supply the German Neumayer III polar station with fresh fruit and vegetables. It will also test how fresh plant-based food could be cultivated on the International Space Station ISS and during future missions to the Moon and Mars. The not quite so everyday Antarctic container has arrived at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) site in Bremen and its conversion into a self-sufficient biotope for salad, herbs, cucumbers and maybe even strawberries. DLR researcher Paul Zabel is already preparing for his extraordinary mission to the End of the World